Thrilling trilogy: Vazquez wins split decision over Marquez

Posted: Sat Mar 1 10:36 PM

Carson, CA (Sports Network) - The trilogy between Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez lived up to its billing, and then some.

Floored in the fourth round, Vazquez (43-4) rallied to score a knockdown of Marquez (37-5) in the final round and come away with a tight split decision to keep his WBC super bantamweight title.

Judge Max DeLuca scored the fight in favor of Vazquez, 114-111, while Tom Kaczmarek had it 114-111 in favor of Marquez. Dr. James Jen Kin had the deciding score, 113-112 for Vazquez.

Incredibly, the loss by Marquez may have come due to a point deduction for a low blow and a questionable knockdown call in the closing seconds of the fight from referee Pat Russell.

It was the third fight between the Mexican stalwarts. On March 3, 2007, Marquez scored a seventh-round technical knockout when Vazquez was unable to continue due to a broken nose suffered earlier in the fight. Then in August, Vazquez scored a sixth-round knockout to get his title back.

Both fighters traded hard punches in the 11th, leading to a dominant 12th for Vazquez. The champion continually backed up Marquez, who was holding on at different opportunities, but he left himself open too often.

Like a battering ram, Vazquez continued to come at Marquez and threw a couple of huge punches to send Marquez back into a corner in the closing seconds. Marquez used his right hand to hold himself up, at which time Russell called it a knockdown.

Marquez was visibly upset at the ruling after the bout, saying he didn't think it was a knockdown, but that combined with the point deduction proved to be his downfall at the Home Depot Center.

The 32-year-old Marquez controlled the early rounds with his jab and Vazquez went down for the first time in the three matchups between the two when he was hit by a solid right to the face. However, Vazquez bounced right up and came back with a stunning punch, and connected with another to the face inside of a minute.

At the end of the round, both fighters were greeted with a thunderous ovation, but that was a sign of things to come in this dramatic bout.

By round eight, both fighters looked bruised and beaten, with Vazquez sporting sores around both of his eyes. By the ninth round, Marquez was suffering from swelling under his left eye.

Evenly matched through round 10, the 30-year-old Vazquez landed a good right hand upstairs and Marquez had a point deducted when he was caught for essentially his fourth low blow of the bout.